117 S4217 IS: Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act
U.S. Senate
2022-05-12
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
II
117th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4217
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 12, 2022
Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Mr. Wyden, and Mrs. Feinstein) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
A BILL
To ensure transparent and competitive transportation fuel markets in order to protect consumers from unwarranted price increases.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act”.
2.

Amendments to the prohibitions on market manipulation and false information provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
(a)

Application to transportation fuel
Subtitle B of title VIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17301 et seq.) is amended—
(1)
in section 811, by striking “gasoline or petroleum distillates” and inserting “or transportation fuel”;
(2)
in section 812—
(A)
in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “gasoline or petroleum distillates” and inserting “or transportation fuel”; and
(B)
in paragraph (3), by striking “, gasoline, or petroleum distillates” and inserting “or transportation fuel”; and
(3)
by adding at the end the following new section:
“816.

Definition of transportation fuel
In this subtitle, the term “transportation fuel” includes gasoline, distillate fuels (including heating oil), jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel (including ethanol, biomass-based diesel and distillates, and renewable blending components).”.
(b)

Prohibition on false information
Section 812 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17302) is amended—
(1)
in the matter preceding paragraph (1)—
(A)
by striking “wholesale” and inserting “supply of, operational actions related to, output related to, or wholesale”; and
(B)
by striking “to a Federal department or agency”;
(2)
in paragraph (1), by adding “and” at the end;
(3)
by striking paragraph (2) and redesignating paragraph (3), as amended by subsection (a), as paragraph (2); and
(4)
in paragraph (2), as so redesignated, by striking “the person intended the false or misleading data to affect data compiled by the department or agency” and inserting “the false or misleading information reported by the person affected analyses or data compiled by a Federal department or agency or a private sector price-reporting agency”.
(c)

Enforcement
Section 813(a) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17303(a)) is amended by striking “This subtitle” and inserting “Except as otherwise provided in section 814, this subtitle”.
(d)

Penalties
Section 814 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17304) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (a), by striking “$1,000,000” and inserting “$2,000,000”; and
(2)
in subsection (b), by striking “section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45)” and inserting “section 5(m)(1)(A) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(m)(1)(A))”.
3.

Transportation fuel monitoring and enforcement within the Federal Trade Commission
(a)

Establishment of the transportation fuel monitoring and enforcement unit
(1)

In general
The Commission shall establish within the Commission the Transportation Fuel Monitoring and Enforcement Unit (in this section referred to as the “Unit”).
(2)

Duties of the unit
(A)

Primary responsibility
The primary responsibility of the Unit shall be to assist the Commission in protecting the public interest by continuously and comprehensively collecting, monitoring, and analyzing crude oil and transportation fuel market data in order to—
(i)
support transparent and competitive market practices;
(ii)
identify any market manipulation, reporting of false information, use of market power to disadvantage consumers, or other unfair method of competition; and
(iii)
facilitate enforcement of penalties against persons in violation of relevant statutory prohibitions.
(B)

Specific duties
In order to carry out the responsibility under subparagraph (A), the Unit shall assist the Commission in carrying out the following duties:
(i)
Receiving, compiling, and analyzing relevant buying and selling activity in order to identify and investigate anomalous market trends and suspicious behavior.
(ii)
Determining whether excessive concentration or exclusive control of energy-related infrastructure may allow or result in anti-competitive behaviors.
(iii)
Gathering evidence of wrongdoing against any person in violation of the statutory prohibitions on market manipulation and false information established in, and consistent with, subtitle B of title VIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, as amended by section 2, or any other applicable provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45 et seq.).
(iv)
Obtaining a data-sharing agreement with the Energy Information Administration that includes the data collected in accordance with section 205(n) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7135), as amended by section 4.
(v)
Obtaining data-sharing agreements with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and as necessary and practicable, State energy offices or commissions, and relevant public and private data sources that will allow the Commission to receive and archive information on—
(I)
crude oil and transportation fuel buying and selling activity;
(II)
individual physical and financial market positions of market participants regarding crude oil and transportation fuel;
(III)
refinery output, capacity, and inventory levels of crude oil and transportation fuel;
(IV)
imports and exports of crude oil and transportation fuel within regions and at levels that could impact prices faced by consumers;
(V)
public announcements by energy companies of planned pricing or output decisions regarding crude oil and transportation fuel; and
(VI)
other relevant market information that will facilitate the gathering of evidence described in clause (iii), including sufficient market information necessary to monitor for cross-market manipulations that may include multiple financial and physical market positions.
(vi)
Any other information determined appropriate by the Commission to carry out the responsibility under subparagraph (A).
(b)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Commission
Other than in subsection (a)(2)(B)(v), the term “Commission” means the Federal Trade Commission.
(2)

Transportation fuel
The term transportation fuel includes gasoline, distillate fuels (including heating oil), jet fuel, aviation gasoline, and biofuel (including ethanol, biomass-based diesel and distillates, and renewable blending components).
(c)

Regulations
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section.
(d)

Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Commission such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2027 to carry out this section.
4.

Transportation fuel market transparency
Section 205 of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7135) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(n)

Transportation fuel market transparency
(1)

Definitions
In this subsection:
(A)

Energy company
The term energy company means a person (as defined in section 11(e) of the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 796(e))) that—
(i)
owns or controls commercial amounts of crude oil or transportation fuel; or
(ii)
is engaged in—
(I)
exploration for, or development of, crude oil;
(II)
extraction of crude oil;
(III)
refining or otherwise processing crude oil or transportation fuel;
(IV)
commercial storage of crude oil or transportation fuel;
(V)
transportation by any means of commercial amounts of crude oil or transportation fuel; or
(VI)
wholesale or retail distribution of crude oil or transportation fuel.
(B)

Transportation fuel
The term transportation fuel means—
(i)
gasoline;
(ii)
distillate fuels, including heating oil;
(iii)
jet fuel;
(iv)
aviation gasoline; and
(v)
biofuel, including ethanol, biomass-based diesel and distillates, and renewable blending components.
(2)

Purpose
The purpose of this subsection is to collect data necessary to facilitate transparent and competitive transportation fuel markets, determine adherence to relevant international sanctions, and protect consumers.
(3)

Surveys
(A)

In general
The Administrator shall conduct surveys of energy companies to collect detailed and timely information on United States crude oil and transportation fuel markets.
(B)

Exemption
The Administrator shall exempt an energy company from participating in the surveys conducted under subparagraph (A) if the energy company has a de minimis market presence or impact, as determined by the Administrator.
(4)

Data collected
(A)

In general
The surveys conducted under paragraph (3) shall collect information on a national, regional, State, and energy company basis.
(B)

Information
The surveys conducted under paragraph (3) shall collect the following information with respect to crude oil and transportation fuel, as applicable:
(i)
The quantity of crude oil and transportation fuel imported and exported.
(ii)
The quantity of crude oil and transportation fuel refined, stored, and transported.
(iii)
The quantity of crude oil and transportation fuel entering final retail and commercial commerce.
(iv)
The quantity of crude oil and transportation fuel purchased and sold at any upstream point between energy companies, including off-exchange bilateral sales and sales between subsidiaries of the same energy company.
(v)
Market price data for the transactions described in clauses (i) through (iv).
(vi)
Submissions to relevant price reporting entities.
(vii)
Any other such data, analyses, or evaluations that the Administrator determines is necessary to achieve the purpose described in paragraph (2).
(C)

Origin of fuel
In obtaining the information described in subparagraph (B), the Administrator shall, to the maximum extent practicable, track and publish the country of original production of crude oil and transportation fuel that may have been resold, refined, blended, stored, or otherwise been exchanged or sold before being imported or exported into the United States.
(D)

Other sources
The Administrator may, when practicable and determined reliable by the Administrator, obtain information described in subparagraph (B) from private price publishers and providers of trade processing services.
(5)

Minimizing reporting burdens
The Administrator shall seek to minimize any burdens on energy companies in reporting information to the Administrator, including by automating data submission practices for data collected under the surveys conducted under paragraph (3).
(6)

Public distribution
(A)

In general
To the maximum extent practicable, subject to this paragraph, the Administrator shall consistently and promptly make publicly available analyses of the results of the data collected pursuant to this subsection in a form and manner easily adaptable for public use and machine analysis.
(B)

Geographical specificity
Analyses published under subparagraph (A)—
(i)
shall be geographically specific enough to provide meaningful differentiation between fuel markets; and
(ii)
shall not organize geographical data in the form of Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts or other geographic aggregations lacking sufficient resolution to ascertain regionally specific market trends or disparities.
(C)

Nondisclosure
Any analysis published under subparagraph (A) shall not disclose matters exempted from mandatory disclosure under section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code.
(7)

Data-sharing agreements
(A)

Federal Trade Commission
Notwithstanding subchapter III of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly known as the “Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018”), not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall enter into a data-sharing agreement with the Federal Trade Commission that shall allow any information collected pursuant to this subsection to be requested by and transferred to the Federal Trade Commission without limitation or delay.
(B)

Other Federal agencies
The Administrator may enter into data-sharing agreements with other Federal agencies that have energy-related policy decision-making responsibilities, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.”.
“(9)

Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to carry out this section such sums as are necessary for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2027.”.